Whistleblower Settlement Impacts Indiana Students
Thousands of Indiana students will be eligible for more than $5 million in loan forgiveness thanks to federal whistleblower suit settlements with the Pittsburgh-based parent company of Brown Mackie College and The Art Institutes. The suits involve allegations of deceptive advertising and misleading promises in the schools’ recruiting efforts.
In Indiana, Education Management Corp. operations Brown Mackie College campuses in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, South Bend, Michigan City and Merrillville as well as the Art Institute of Indianapolis. Attorney General Greg Zoeller says 5,530 Indiana students are eligible for a combined $5,729,910 in loan debt forgiveness.
Zoeller says, in many cases, students took out loans, but "discovered too late the courses were non-accredited or the quality was questionable and did not translate later into job opportunities. He says that left students owing debt, with little or no return on their financial or time investments. The settlement prohibits EDMC from misrepresenting information about accreditation, graduation rates, job-placement rates or other school benefits to students or prospective students.